Luke 23:5

23:5 But they persisted ¹  in saying, “He incites ²  the people by teaching throughout all Judea. It started in Galilee and ended up here!” ³ 

Luke 23:21-23

23:21 But they kept on shouting, ⁴  “Crucify, crucify ⁵  him!” 23:22 A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty ⁶  of no crime deserving death. ⁷  I will therefore flog ⁸  him and release him.” 23:23 But they were insistent, ⁹  demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed.

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¹ tn Or “were adamant.” For “persisted in saying,” see L&N 68.71.

² sn He incites the people. The Jewish leadership claimed that Jesus was a political threat and had to be stopped. By reiterating this charge of stirring up rebellion, they pressured Pilate to act, or be accused of overlooking political threats to Rome.

³ tn Grk “beginning from Galilee until here.”

⁴ tn Grk “shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated here.

⁵ tn This double present imperative is emphatic.

sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman historian Cicero called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

⁶ tn Grk “no cause of death I found in him.”

⁷ sn The refrain of innocence comes once again. Pilate tried to bring some sense of justice, believing Jesus had committed no crime deserving death.

⁸ tn Or “scourge” (BDAG 749 s.v. παιδεύω 2.b.γ). See the note on “flogged” in v. 16.

⁹ tn Though a different Greek term is used here (BDAG 373 s.v. ἐπίκειμαι), this remark is like 23:5.